Can We Inherit Pain?

Mark Wolynn, in his new book, It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, asks this thoughtful question. Up until now, scientists believed that all we inherit are physical traits from our ancestors, but groundbreaking scientific fields such as epigentics  are beginning to show that the imprint we receive is much more than just the physical characteristics of those who came before us.  Wolynn writes, "Emerging trends in psychotherapy are now beginning to point beyond the traumas of the individual to include traumatic events in the family and social history as a part of the whole picture. Tragedies varying in type and intensity—such as abandonment, suicide and war, or the early death of a child, parent, or sibling—can send shock waves of distress cascading from one generation to the next. Recent developments in the fields of cellular biology, neurobiology, epigenetics, and developmental psychology underscore the importance of exploring at least three generations of family history in order to understand the mechanism behind patterns of trauma and suffering that repeat..." Read more